How to enable dictionary autocompletion without spell option set

Question

I noticed, that in any source code file, regardless of the programming language, I can use the dictionary autocompletion (Ctrl + x Ctrl+k) if the spell option is set, if it's not, then the editor gives an error message, "'dictionary' option is empty".

Is it possible to make the dictionary autocompletion enabled without setting of the spell option?

Answer 1

I use the following in my vimrc:

inoremap <expr> <c-x><c-k> SpellCheck("\<c-x>\<c-k>")
nnoremap z= :<c-u>call SpellCheck()<cr>z=
function! SpellCheck(...)
  let s:spell_restore = &spell
  set spell
  augroup restore_spell_option
    autocmd!
    autocmd CursorMoved,CompleteDone <buffer> let &spell = s:spell_restore | autocmd! restore_spell_option
  augroup END
  return a:0 ? a:1 : ''
endfunction

The basic idea is to turn on 'spell' for <c-x><c-k> and z= and then restore the previous value of 'spell'. It is a bit clumsy for z= when no spell option is selected, but it works pretty well in practice.

Answer 2

The doc :h compl-dictionary says:

CTRL-X CTRL-K        Search the files given with the 'dictionary' option
                     for words that start with the keyword in front of the
                     cursor.
                     [...] By default,
                     the 'dictionary' option is empty.
                     For suggestions where to find a list of words, see the
                     'dictionary' option.

So you simply need to set you 'dictionary' option to get the completion you are looking for